The use of animal cages or crates is well known. Many conventional cages have been developed over the years for housing animals of different shapes, sizes, and types. For example, animal cages typically house pets such as dogs and cats. Rabbits, rodents and other small animals have also been known to be housed by such cages and are quite common. Other conventional cages are used for farm animals when needed, including ducks and chickens. As cages have been further developed, the portability, safety, and ease of use have become points of emphasis. Some conventional cages, for example, have been designed to collapse to a compact structure for portability. Others have been designed to be of light weight and from durable materials. Conventional cages have been designed for ease of transporting an animal. Some conventional cages are designed as exercise pens that provide an interior space that the animal can move about, particularly outdoors.
Most conventional cages include at least one door for providing access to the interior of the cage. The animal enters or exits the cage through an opening when the door is opened, and the animal can be safely contained in the cage when the door is closed. Many conventional cages include a door that is latched or locked in its closed position with a latch, such as a slide bolt latch. A variety of latches have been incorporated into the design of the door to allow a user to open, close, and or securely latch the door.
Many of these conventional designs have limitations, however. With regards to an exercise pen, for example, the door is generally formed by an entire height and width of a panel or side member of the pen. Many of these doors are not able to be securely latched or may not prevent an animal from escaping the crate assembly. In addition, due to the size of the door, it can be difficult for an owner to reach into the interior of the exercise pen and retrieve a desired animal when two or more animals are enclosed therein.
In other conventional cages, the wire gauge used to manufacture the cage lacks robustness. In these instances, a caged animal may push or force different panels away from one another. In other instances, the caged animal may damage the cage or, even worse, injure themselves.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved animal crate assembly that provides better means for accessing the interior of the crate assembly and increasing the safety of an animal when contained within the interior.